ATLANTA — Half of the 56 players reporting to Atlanta Braves spring training next week will be pitchers. The other half is an interesting group of hitters of every description, ranging from a rehabbing superstar and former MVP to a recent MLB homer and RBI leader coming off a slump-plagued season to a slick young infielder with no MLB experience who could make the Opening Day roster because of his Rule 5 status as much as anything.

Without further ado, here’s a look at each of the 28 hitters who will be at Braves camp.

Ronald Acuña Jr., RF: He’s recovering from left knee surgery that ended his season in late May, and the 2023 NL MVP will begin the year on the injured list and likely miss at least a month. It was the second major knee surgery for Acuña in three years (right ACL in 2021). In his only healthy season in the past four, Acuña hit .337 with 41 homers and 73 stolen bases in 2023 while leading the majors in OPS (1.012).

Ozzie Albies, 2B: The injury-plagued three-time All-Star has played as many as 100 games just once in the past three seasons. He fractured his left wrist in late July and missed two months, then went 8-for-46 in 11 games including two wild-card playoff losses after rushing back before the wrist could be fully strengthened. Albies had 10 homers and .707 OPS in 99 regular-season games.

Nick Allen, INF: Started 176 games at shortstop, 36 at second base and three at third base for the Athletics over the past three seasons, providing strong defense and weak offense (.537 OPS, nine homers in 760 PAs). He’s out of options and was acquired in a November trade for minor-league pitcher Jared Johnson.

Eddy Alvarez, INF: One of the many versatile veterans who signed minor-league contracts with the Braves over the winter, Alvarez is a light-hitting infielder with experience at second base, third base and shortstop. He also made five corner-outfield starts for the Dodgers in 2022. The 35-year-old has hit just .170 with a .501 OPS in 153 plate appearances over parts of four MLB seasons, but it’s worth noting his minor-league career-best 18 homers and .811 OPS in 115 games last season for Triple-A Worcester (Red Sox).

Nacho Alvarez Jr., INF: Shortstop prospect was overmatched at the plate in an eight-game stint with Atlanta last summer (3-for-30, no walks, 10 Ks), playing second base because of Braves injuries and because his bat had sizzled in Triple A (.398 OBP, 10 homers in 64 games). He’ll compete for the backup shortstop/utility infield job.

Orlando Arcia, SS: Two years ago, Arcia hit .341 with an .890 OPS through June 20 to earn his first All-Star berth. But since that date in 2023, Arcia’s .272 OBP (in 935 PAs) is the worst among all MLB qualifiers over a 1 1/2-season span, while his .635 OPS is second-lowest among qualifiers and his .218 average is tied for third-lowest.

Drake Baldwin, C: The Braves’ top prospect boosted his stock in 2024 by hitting .298 with a .407 OBP, 12 homers and an .891 OPS in 72 games in Triple A after a midseason promotion. Baldwin is likely headed back to Triple A to start 2025 but could be an an injury (or severe slump) away from assuming a prominent MLB role after the Braves declined an option on veteran Travis d’Arnaud, leaving no similarly accomplished backup to Sean Murphy.

Christian Cairo, INF: Poached in the Rule 5 draft from the Guardians, Cairo is a strong defensive shortstop with outstanding speed and some outfield experience. In 108 games at Double A and Triple A, he hit .241 with a .354 OBP and a meager .326 slugging percentage. Cairo had 26 steals in 30 attempts. If he’s not kept on the MLB roster, he’d have to be passed through waivers and offered back to Cleveland for $50,000 (half of the claiming price Atlanta paid).

Conner Capel, OF: After signing a minor-league deal in December, Capel looked like a potential left-handed hitting platoon option, but that was before the Braves signed Jurickson Profar to be the everyday left fielder. Capel remains an option should the Braves endure a spate of injuries like last season. He’s a .278 hitter with a .359 OBP but not much power to speak of in 153 PAs over parts of three MLB seasons with St. Louis, Oakland and Cincinnati.

Curt Casali, C: The 36-year-old veteran catcher signed a minor-league deal with Atlanta in January, and is an option for backup duties in Atlanta or Triple-A Gwinnett. Casali hit .293 with an .805 OPS in 52 games in 2018 with Cincinnati, but just .215 with a .667 OPS in 330 games during the six seasons since, including .194 with a .543 OPS in 41 games last year with San Francisco. He’s stuck around because of defense, game-calling and clubhouse reputation.

Garrett Cooper, OF/1B: Braves fans probably remember Cooper, 34, from six seasons with the Marlins, including a four-year stretch (2019-2022) in which he hit .274 with 67 doubles, 39 homers and 115 OPS+ in 331 games (works out to 162-game averages of 33 doubles and 19 homers). However, in two seasons since then Cooper has played with four MLB teams and hit .242 with 18 homers and a well-below-average 86 OPS+ in 573 plate appearances. He signed a minor-league deal with the Braves hoping for a big-league opportunity to rejuvenate his career.

Bryan De La Cruz, OF: After hitting .269 with a .748 OPS and 106 OPS+ in 173 games during his first two MLB seasons with Miami in 2021-2022, De La Cruz slipped to a .685 OPS and 82 OPS+ over the past two seasons with the Marlins and Pirates. However, he still produced 40 homers and 146 RBIs in 302 games during that span. De La Cruz looked like an option to split left-field duties with Jarred Kelenic until the Braves signed Profar to upgrade the position.

José Devers, INF: A former top prospect with the Yankees, he’s been slowed by shoulder issues and other setbacks and failed to gain traction after parts of seven minor-league seasons, mostly with the Marlins after being in the 2017 trade that sent Giancarlo Stanton to New York. A cousin of Rafael Devers, José has played all the infield positions and is strong at SS/2B. He’s hit .244 with a .611 OPS in 50 major league PAs, all with Miami and mostly in 2021.

Michael Harris II, CF: Harris missed two months for a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He had 11 homers and an .823 OPS in 43 games after coming off the IL on Aug. 14, and finished with career-lows in average (.264), OPS (.722) and OPS+ (99). Harris hit .295 with an .828 OPS and 124 OPS+ during his first MLB two seasons and won NL Rookie of the Year in 2022.

Jarred Kelenic, LF: The Braves traded for Kelenic from Seattle a little over a year ago, taking on more than $15 million in bad contracts in other moves in order to acquire five years of control of this former elite prospect. He showed flashes of five-tool potential in Atlanta but had some extended slumps while hitting .231 with an 87 OPS+ in 131 games and 449 plate appearances, both career highs. He finished with 15 homers and more than four times as many strikeouts (133) as walks (32).

Charles Leblanc, INF: The Canadian non-roster invitee has fewer than 200 MLB plate appearances in parts of two seasons in 2022 (Marlins) and 2024 (Angels), but Leblanc, 28, drew some attention with his on-base skills and defensive versatility throughout the infield. Went 4-for-21 in his limited MLB stint in 2024, but two of the hits were homers and he had seven walks.

Sandy León, C: The 12-year MLB veteran, who will be 36 in March, last played in the majors in 2023. He hit just .191 with five homers and a .589 OPS in 79 games last season for Triple-A Gwinnett. Still, León has strong game-calling skills and remains a solid defensive catcher who can provide stability and leadership for top Braves catching prospect Drake Baldwin and others, in addition to serving as an emergency fill-in option.

Sean Murphy, C: The All-Star berth that Murphy earned in 2023 in his first year with Atlanta seems long ago to many Braves fans frustrated by his performance since the break that year. But the Braves haven’t lost faith in Murphy, 30, a Gold Glover in 2021 who hit .250 with 39 homers and a 124 OPS+ during the 2022-2023 seasons before a strained oblique last Opening Day sidelined him for two months. After returning from the IL, he never put together a sustained surge and finished with a career-worst .193 average, 10 homers and a 76 OPS+ in 72 games.

Matt Olson, 1B: After leading MLB in homers and RBIs in 2023 (54 and 139, franchise records), Olson slumped for much of 2024, hitting .220 with 13 homers and a puny (for him) .688 OPS through 99 games. He finally got on track to hit .289 with 16 homers, 54 RBIs and a .949 OPS in the last 63 games — Olson played all 162 games for a third year in a row. Overall, he had 29 homers, a .790 OPS and a 118 OPS+, his lows in each for a full season since 2018.

Marcell Ozuna, DH: The Braves exercised a $16 million option on Ozuna’s contract, an easy decision after the best back-to-back seasons of the 34-year-old designated hitter’s career. It’s been a prolific two-year stretch in which he’s posted 79 homers and 204 RBIs in 306 games while batting .289 with a .364 OBP, .552 slugging and 148 OPS+ in 1,280 plate appearances. He followed up his 40-homer, 100-RBI season in 2023 with an even better 39-104 season in 2024.

Jurickson Profar, LF: He’s the only free agent signed to a multiyear contract by Atlanta during the offseason, getting $42 million for three years from a team that will deploy him as its everyday left fielder. The Braves will be pleased if Profar can repeat or come close to the performance of his age-31 season in 2024 with San Diego, when he hit .280/.380/.459 with 24 homers, 85 RBIs, an .839 OPS and 134 OPS+, his 11-year career-highs in each category.

Austin Riley, 3B: One of baseball’s premier third basemen was also its most durable until 2024, when Riley had a strained side in May and a season-ending broken wrist in August after being hit by a fastball at Anaheim. He played 110 games, after playing all but four games in the previous three seasons combined. Riley hit .256 with 19 homers, 46 RBIs and a .783 OPS in 2024, after averaging 36 homers and 99 RBIs with an .878 OPS in the previous three seasons.

Carlos D. Rodriguez, OF: Signed a non-guaranteed free-agent contract in November that was not a minor-league deal. Rodriguez 24, instead got a 40-man roster spot despite no big-league experience. With more than half of all MLB teams reportedly interested in him, the Braves used the roster spot to lure Rodriguez, who hit .284 with a .368 OBP, six triples, four homers and 17 steals in 115 games with Brewers’ Double A and Triple A affiliates. Then he had a stellar Venezuelan winter season, hitting .329 with a .382 OBP and 17 RBIs in 41 games for Magallanes.

Chadwick Tromp, C: With d’Arnaud gone, Tromp is expected to begin the season as Murphy’s backup and start a game or two per week. He had that role in 2024 when Murphy missed two months early, and again when d’Arnaud was briefly sidelined. Tromp has game-calling skills and solid defense, with occasional big hits but otherwise merely serviceable offense. 

SS Luke Waddell, SS: A fifth-round draft pick in 2021 out of Georgia Tech, Waddell struggled for much of his first full season in Triple A in 2024, batting .235 with two homers and a .639 OPS in 111 games. He spent parts of three seasons in Double A, hitting a career-best .290 with eight homers, a .798 OPS and 26 steals in 101 games in 2023.

Eli White, OF: Considering all of the injuries for Braves outfielders in recent seasons, there seems a good chance they’ll need White to step in again at some point. He’s been in the organization the past two seasons and hit .282 with three extra-base hits, three steals and a 113 OPS+ in 42 plate appearances (35 games) with Atlanta in 2024. That’s 91 points above his .191 career batting average in 448 PAs over parts of five MLB seasons, including three with Texas.

Luke Williams, INF/LF: During the decade in which he’s toiled in the minors between scattered stints with five MLB teams, Williams had perhaps his best season at Triple-A Gwinnett in 2024, hitting .292 with nine homers, 18 stolen bases and an .840 OPS in 55 games. If the Braves need him in the majors, it probably means they’re dealing with a slew of injuries again.

Adam Zebroski, C: A 13th-round draft pick by the Braves in 2021, Zebroski is a non-roster invitee who’ll help handle the considerable catching workload early in camp. His 15 games at Double-A Mississippi last season were his first above High A. Has a .215 average with 34 homers and a .684 OPS in 301 minor-league games over four seasons.

(Top photo of Ronald Acuña Jr.: Justin Berl / Getty Images)